Hero in Hiding
by caitbooboo
Summary: After completing the trials necessary to leave the Great Plateau, Hyrule's Hero goes into hiding. After two years of waiting for the hero to arrive, Prince Sidon takes it upon himself to go in search for the hero. However, the person Sidon finds is nothing like he had ever expected.
1. Prologue

When I first awoke, her voice called out to me but I understood nothing of what she was trying to explain. Her words were muffled, my mind and body no longer used to consciousness after my deep slumber. Slowly, her voice came into focus and I heard my name.

"-k….-yck…..Lyck, open your eyes. Wake up, Lyck." I sat up with a jolt of energy, eyes wide as I scanned the dim room I awoke in. Mysterious liquid dripped from my hair and down my skin as I stared at the cave walls surrounding me, the rocky surface veined with blue, pulsing light, revealing nothing more than an odd pedestal and a sealed doorway. Where am I? I don't know this place. Last I remember, I was… My eyebrows pinched together as the thumping of a growing headache clouded my thoughts. I couldn't remember anything… The more I tried to focus on the shred of a memory, the sharper the pain grew. I mentally grabbed at a distant memory and grimaced as an excruciating jolt of pain exploded behind my eyes, causing me to grab my head and hiss in pain.

"Lyck, please, I need you to listen," her voice called again, gently and coaxing. It sounded familiar, my headache ebbing away as I focused on her voice instead of my fleeting memories. "Walk over to the pedestal," she said, and I slowly twisted so my legs were hanging over the edge of the raised platform I had been lying on. As my feet touched the floor and I put my full weight on my legs, they gave out and I crumpled to the floor.

"Lyck!" The voice sounded concerned as I groaned slightly, pulling myself back up from the ground. "Please, be careful...It has been a long time since you have moved," she cautioned. I took a deep breath and slowly made my way over to the pedestal, tripping once or twice as I got used to walking again and as the numbness in my legs faded away. The room was foggy, and as I approached the pedestal I began to make out the form of a palm-sized device fitted into the top of the pedestal. Suddenly it lit up bright blue, matching the walls, and the stone twisted within it until the device was propped up.

"That is a Sheikah Slate," the voice explained. "Take it. It will help guide you after your long slumber." Cautiously, I grabbed the sheikah slate, as she called it, and held it up. It lit up with a soft shime, and that sound made me feel a sense of familiarity. Before I could explore the device further, the sealed doors began to open up, shaking the whole chamber. Peeking my head out of the doorway, I tucked the sheikah slate into the waistband of my undergarments and stepped into the second chamber.

It was more spacious than the first, littered with chests and crates and lined with blue torches on either side. Opening the chests, I was relieved to find an old pair of trousers and a musty shirt. Not the cleanest, but at least it was something to wear instead of having to walk around in only my undergarments. I buckled the trousers into place and pulled the shirt over my head, hooking the sheikah slate onto the belt that held the trousers up. Walking down the ramp, I spotted another pedestal and a similar sealed pedestal, much like the first one, lit up as I walked up to it.

"Hold the Sheikah Slate up to the pedestal, that will show you the way" the voice coaxed, breaking her lengthy silence and causing me to jump. I thought I heard a suppressed laugh, and I narrowed my eyes as I did as she told me to. The pedestal flashed as it seemed to scan the sheikah slate, chiming that familiar chime once again. After a moment's pause, the chamber rumbled and the sealed doors opened, allowing a blinding light to leak in. Shielding my eyes, I stepped towards the doorway.

"Lyck...you are the light -our light- that must shine upon Hyrule once again." I blinked against the light as my eyes finally adjusted, the smell of fresh air and wet grass surrounded me. "Now, go." I took a step forward, as if I were under her command, then another until I was running towards the source of the light. It felt like my blood was replaced with that blue light, pulsing and flowing through me as I propelled forward.

I had burst out of the cave and kept running, only skidding to a stop as I came to the edge of a cliff. The sounds of chirping birds and rushing wind overwhelmed me as I scanned the landscape, my eyes watering as if I had finally come home after being gone for far too long. I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, chest heaving with the effort it took to get my aching body out of the cave, and out of the corner of my eye, I spotted some movement. Walking down that hillside, I met the Old Man and that is where my journey began.

That is, also, where it ended.


	2. Chapter 1

_~Two Years Later~_

Trudging through the woods, my heart's pace increased as the sun sank lower into the horizon. The forest was already so dark that I could barely see in front of me, the thick canopy effectively blocking out any of the dusk's last rays of sunlight. Stumbling over yet another fallen log, I gritted my teeth together and caught myself before hitting the ground.

 _How could I have been such a fool_. I started walking a bit faster, adjusting the sack packed tight with swift carrots that was hanging over my shoulder and mentally cursing myself over and over. _Getting too excited over a bunch of carrots, like a child._ Swift carrots were hard to find in this neck of the woods, and after coming across a whole bunch on my way back from the creek, I couldn't control my self. Before I knew it, I had spent an hour digging up all of them and the sun had already begun to set. Somewhere in the back of my mind, the sound of bones clicking against each other sent a chill down my spine. Swallowing down my fear, I ignored the voice inside of my mind, taunting that just maybe it was dark enough for those hellspawn to crawl their way out of the ground. That maybe just one step in the right place, they'll grab me and drag me down into the worm-infested dirt with them.

A twig snapped somewhere in the distance and all of my muscles clenched as I froze in place. Despite the typical pleasant weather, a sweat started forming on my temple as I scanned the trees surrounding me, waiting for another sound. After a minute of peace and quiet, my face grew hot in embarrassment. _What if_ she's _watching, you coward_ -

 **Snap.**

Dropping the sack of carrots, I sprinted away from the sound, unsure whether or not whatever it was that made the sound was giving chase due to the deafening sound of my own heartbeat in my ears. All I could think about was how close it sounded to me, almost like it was only just a couple of feet away, like it could have just reached out it's bony hand and touched me. By the time I reached my run-down cabin, I was out of breath and drenched in sweat. I slammed the door behind me, the glass pane in the window shaking with the force, and pressed my back against it.

After a couple of deep breaths, I grabbed the wooden plank by the door, deftly sliding it in place so that the only entrance to the cabin was barred. Finally, I could feel my heart begin to return to a normal pace, my adrenaline draining as I plopped down in a chair. My hands were shaking, and I clasped them together as I rationalized that it was most likely a deer or a boar just wandering a bit too close. _Yeah, it was only an animal. Only an animal..._

* * *

Prince Sidon watched the hylian disappear into the treeline, his hand outstretched. He was perplexed, looking down at the abandoned burlap sack and the swift carrots spilling out from the top onto the mossy ground. His forehead pinched together as he stared in the direction that the golden-haired figure had gone. _  
_

"Could that have been… Link…?"


End file.
